I was able to have the experience of working with many
different organization while in Cape Town. For the first half of my time I
did my service learning at Beautiful Gates which is a orphanage for children with HIV. I
was able to work closely with the Social worker and see the cases she was
working on. The most amazing moments were when we got a little time to spend
with the kids. It was extremely hard because we were only there in the morning
and the kids were at school at that time. Even though I was not able to spend
as much time as I would have hoped with the kids the time I did spend was
amazing. These kids were so full of life I mean I couldn’t help get happy just
seeing them. I remember my first day going to Beautiful Gate without knowing anyone
besides Alyssa it was pretty nerve racking but then a beautiful little girl
came running to me and gave me the biggest hug. I think Alyssa and I
fell in love with that place; as much as you wanted to feel bad for the kids
being there you couldn’t help but to be happy because they were happy.
The other place where I was lucky to have the chance to go
was Eros School for children with Cerebral palsy. I thought that this place
would be hard to walk into everyday because it would sadden me to see the kids
not able to do everyday things. I was pleasantly surprised going to Eros school
has taught me to not make assumptions and things might surprise you. The kids
made my day; I was so impressed with how much they knew and how they caught on
to things. If I did not know I was at a school for children with disabilities I
would not have known. These kids would sit down and listen to the teacher for
however long the lesson was, usually kids can’t even sit down for ten seconds
before they want to run around. The kids were not the only ones I feel in love
with, the teacher was amazing. You could just tell she loved her job and wanted
the kids to leave everyday learning something. Sometimes I would forget I was
there to help out and just sit with the kids and listen to her teach. I think I
needed to see that these kids had somewhere to go and people that cared about
them. I struggled with not seeing help for children with disabilities and this
school just helped me to see that there is hope for these kids and South
Africa.
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